New Orleans Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis joined Zach Strief on the Saints Radio Network on Tuesday night, discussing his team's Wild Card performance against the Chicago Bears and much more. Bill Polian, former NFL general manager, Erin Andrews, Fox sideline reporter, and Vince Vaughn, longtime actor, joined the show as special guests.
The Saints (13-4) knocked off the Chicago Bears 21-9 in the NFC Wild Card matchup on Sunday, Jan. 10, sending them to the NFC divisional round where they will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12-5).
"I was rooting for Mickey (Loomis) and Sean (Payton) and the Saints because I've gotten to know those guys, and I think they've done such a tremendous job," Vaughn said during the WWL radio show. "I was just so happy to see those guys do well. The Bears are my childhood team, and I'll always love the Bears, obviously, but I feel like the Saints have a really good chance this year and a chance to go all the way and to win everything. So, I was really hoping for them to get that chance to advance and to finish the thing off this year."
Before the 2020 NFL season, the league decided to make adjustments regarding roster expansion due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Well, I think all of the changes really were terrific," Polian said. "They allowed us to play 256 games in 17 weeks. They allowed us to get through the first week of the playoffs...That might be the biggest positive change of all because after three weeks on injured reserve, you can bring them back, and that gives the players an incentive to come back."
Andrews, who will be the sideline reporter for Sunday's matchup against the Buccaneers, talked about the preparation for a playoff game.
"This will be my second Saints-Bucs matchup this year," Andrews said. "I think when you have a game that's been played already, two times, and then this is the third, I think you're absolutely right. I was trying to look up stories that maybe I hadn't read during the year on Mike Evans or Alvin Kamara, or things maybe I didn't know about him going forward. There's a lot of things in game prep that you end up never using. Half the stuff you don't even use, but I just like to have it there for me just in case."
